From murder and matchstick men to all-consuming fires, painted women, and Great Lakes disasters--and the wide-eyed public who could not help but gawk at it all--"Milwaukee Mayhem" uncovers the little-remembered and rarely told history of the underbelly of a Midwestern metropolis. "Milwaukee Mayhem" offers a new perspective on Milwaukee's early years, forgoing the major hisFrom murder and matchstick men to all-consuming fires, painted women, and Great Lakes disasters--and the wide-eyed public who could not help but gawk at it all--"Milwaukee Mayhem" uncovers the little-remembered and rarely told history of the underbelly of a Midwestern metropolis. "Milwaukee Mayhem" offers a new perspective on Milwaukee's early years, forgoing the major historical signposts found in traditional histories and focusing instead on the strange and brutal tales of mystery, vice, murder, and disaster that were born of the city's transformation from lakeside settlement to American metropolis. Author Matthew J. Prigge presents these stories as they were recounted to the public in the newspapers of the era, using the vivid and often grim language of the times to create an engaging and occasionally chilling narrative of a forgotten Milwaukee.Through his thoughtful introduction, Prigge gives the work context, eschewing assumptions about "simpler times" and highlighting the mayhem that the growth and rise of a city can bring about. These stories are the orphans of Milwaukee's history, too unusual to register in broad historic narratives, too strange to qualify as nostalgia, but nevertheless essential to our understanding of this American city....

Title

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Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City's First Centrury

Author

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Matthew J. Prigge

Rating

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ISBN

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25857990

Format Type

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e-Book

Number of Pages

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224 Pages

Status

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Available For Download

Last checked

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21 Minutes ago!

Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City's First Centrury Reviews

Lady♥Belleza★✰2019-02-20 02:49

This is the history of a city's one-hundred-year struggle to leave its past behind, to understand, itself, and to make sense of the everyday mayhem of life in a metropolis being born.Jeffrey Dahmer was called "The Milwaukee Cannibal", but he wasn't the only bad boy in the city. Although most of the criminals written about in this book are most likely unknown or forgotten. Sorted into categories such as "Murder", "Accidents", "Vice", and "Secrets" this is a compilation of true accounts from Milwaukee during it 'growing pains'. These are very brief accounts. Not extremely detailed but factual. Mr. Prigge records what is know and leaves the speculating to our imaginations. Well written and concise, I would recommend this book.

Amy2019-02-06 02:02

Eh, this book was okay. I was expecting more substance, but it was just a bunch of quick stories about fires, accidents, and other weird crappy stuff that happened in Milwaukee's first 100 years. At least the stories had been edited/written to be consistent, but I was always wanting more info. I wished they would have done less stories and gone into more detail. I was expecting more Devil in the White City but it was more Wisconsin Death Trip.

Kate2019-02-16 00:50

This book was so interesting to read; the untold macabre of such an interesting city that a lot of buildings still stand & have seen the stories unfold in front of their facades. Also the author does a boat tour on the rivers here in Milwaukee! I will be going, you can bet on that & if it is half as interesting as the book I will love it!

Annie Garvey2019-02-09 02:53

The book is sectioned by crime, for example, murder, vice, etc. It would have been better if it was chronological within the sections.

Julie 2019-02-23 00:39

This book is divided into four sections: Murder, Accidents, Vice and Secrets. Each is populated with short recaps of true incidents that occurred in Milwaukee in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It's an interesting concept and the author has clearly spent a lot of time reading old newspapers to glean the information in this book. I read the first story in the "Murder" section and immediately realized I was going to have nightmares if I continued. Just not the type of thing I enjoy reading (same reason I don't like most crime shows on TV--can't stand all the blood and gore). I decided to skip right to the chapter on "Vice" which I found much less creepy. Some parts were actually funny, and I learned a lot about Milwaukee that I didn't know. Anyone who is interested in the early days of Milwaukee, and particularly anyone who is knowledgeable about the different streets and avenues of the city, would enjoy this book. It was interesting to learn, for instance, that Wells Street near the river was once the home of dozens of brothels and gambling houses. But be warned that large swaths of the book are filled with graphic descriptions of murders and other horrific crimes.

Nicola Mansfield2019-01-26 04:06

A collection of dark tales from Milwaukee's early history taken from the newspapers, written in the author's own words. Divided into four sections: Murder, Accidents, Vice, and Secrets. The stories have no segues between them and are in no chronological order; they are simply vignettes ranging from a paragraph to three pages long. Themes are arranged together such as all suicides are together, as are fires, poisonings, prohibition cases etc. I had expected more of a flowing narrative than a collection of stories so took off to a slow start, but once I decided to read about 25 pages in a sitting I enjoyed the book much more in the small doses and found many of the stories interesting. Personally, rather than satisfying my interest in true crime, I found the book more satiated my appetite for social history. Much can be gleaned from these stories on social attitudes at the time. I especially enjoyed the chapter on vice, not because it was salacious by any means, but because of the information I gleaned on such matters as flappers, police procedures, the youth of the day, and a funny story on a crusade to ban kissing not for moral reasons but because of the germs! LOL. The stories range from the 1850s to the 1920s, with some from the '30s and a handful from the war years of the '40s. Interesting for its stories of crime and the underbelly of society in the early 20th century but most fascinating, in my opinion, from a social history aspect of the era.

Stephanie2019-02-10 06:59

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting a narrative (think 'Devil in the White City'), it was written, instead, as a collection of newspaper articles. It was still interesting & fairly well written, but because it was a series of vignettes rather than one story, it didn't "flow" well for me.A couple of things that would've helped were if the events in each section were chronological (I can't find any logic to the order he put the stories in in each section), & if a map was included to get a better visual of where things were happening (most took place in what is now downtown Milwaukee, so it wouldn't've been too excessive).Anyways, if you're interested in Milwaukee history, this is a good book for you.

Amy2019-02-01 04:41

This book was ok. It was reminded me of reading a collection of "on this day" articles in a newspaper. Once I read the first few stories on a particular vice I didn't need to read the others as they almost became repetitive in nature. I would have enjoyed it more if there were fewer stories but with more details and flesh to those fewer stories. It was still fun and interesting to read about my city, imagining how life was on the streets of Milwaukee back then.

Bexa2019-02-08 02:58

Some of the stories I have heard before from Haunted Wisconsin stories. It was really fascinating that all these stories came from the newspapers and that Prigge was able to put them cohesively together in an entertaining way.

Jeramey2019-02-11 02:57

The book is really a collection of one-or-two page stories based on historical events. Mostly sad tales (for the victims), but interesting to see what people thought they could (and sometimes did) get away with in Milwaukee.

Kendall Lynn Babcock2019-02-23 05:49

Wisconsin. History. Easy Read.I really enjoy History and Wisconsin, and this book has both. Quick, easy to read stories if I just wanted to get a little in at lunch. But, it was also easy to get caught up in it.

Kelly Whitt2019-02-17 04:40

Very short stories of about a page long on gambling, prostitution, murder, etc, that makes you realize the good old days were pretty bad.

Irene2019-01-28 05:56

Easy read and short stories of the criminal activities in the popular areas of Milwaukee in the late 1800s, early 1900s.

Jane2019-01-23 00:56

pretty interesting and fast reads.

Patricia Atkinson2019-02-16 01:58

lots of great history I only knew about dahmer so it was nice to read all the older ones...a great read for true crime or history buffs...

Lauder2019-02-17 06:47

Murders and mysteries throughout Milwaukee - this was a fascinating read!

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About the author

Matthew J. Prigge - Matthew J. Prigge is a Milwaukee historian, author, and tour guide. He is presently In his fifth year as a tour guide with the Milwaukee Boat Line, leading daily sight-seeing tours of the city’s rivers and Lake Michigan. He is a former staff writer with UW-Milwaukee’s Encyclopedia of Milwaukee project. He is the host of What Made Milwaukee Famous, a weekly radio show on WMSE 91.7 Milwaukee, with a companion blog at expressmilwaukee. He is also the host and creator of the Mondo Milwaukee boat tour, an after-hours look at some of the most notorious sights in the cityHis writing credits include The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Milwaukee History, the Shepherd Express, Film History, Milwaukee Magazine, and Marquee Magazine. His first book, Images of America: Manitowoc was published in 2014. His second, Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century, will be released in September 2015 by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.

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